Richard Staveley, head of marketing at Protein World, the company behind those ‘beach body ready’ posters on the Tube, today told Sky News the response to the ads has been ‘fantastic’.

Of the reaction to the ads, which have been accused of body shaming women and have sparked a change.org petition to have it removed which now has over 40,000 signatures, Richard told Sky: ‘I think it’s fair to say we weren’t expecting this level of exposure…but, it’s fantastic.’

The ads have been described on social media as ‘shameful’ and some women have begun to deface the posters, scrawling body positive slogans in their place.

When it was put to Richard that the ads could be seen as placing ‘undue pressure’ on women, leading to ‘more judgement on the beach, the sort of judgement that men don’t get’, he responded that they had a customer base of ‘300,000 (84 per cent of which are women), that they had done ‘meticulous research’ on what motivated them, and that ‘this is exactly what they wanted to see.’

He said Australian model Renee Somerfield was an ‘aspirational figure, who has achieved her body goals in a healthy way.’

Somerfield herself responded to the backlash over the weekend, telling Huffington Post: ”I think nearly every ad campaign you have ever seen is open to interpretation. But saying the ad is body shaming by body shaming the image is very contradictory. Two wrongs don’t make a right.’

She added: ‘I am a real person behind the image. I work very hard and live a healthy and active lifestyle which is why Protein World chose me for their campaign. I couldn’t work every day as a full time model by starving myself, dieting or not looking after my body. Nourish your body, be kind to it and it will love you right back, no matter your size.’

Renee, according to Richard, ‘displays an inner and outer confidence, which is what we’re suggesting with our adverts.’

However, the marketing boss also said he stood by some of his brand’s controversial tweets over the weekend which included telling one woman, who asked if she, ‘a normal woman’, should be allowed on the beach, to ‘grow up’.

Asked if he regretted how he had handled the social media response, he said: ‘Absolutely not. We’ve created a brand with a real personality. We’re not a faceless corporation. There will be times when that potentially sails quite close to the wind. But, I certainly don’t regret any of the approach we take.’

The ad is currently being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).